The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

for someone who manages to intimidate mr hill over dinner, you are such a softy!

great story. here’s hoping he doesn’t become the next charlotte church. (sorry, i had to bring it back to an appropriate level of cynicism)

god i fucking love you lauren

You are one of the most romantic men I’ve ever met Andy so if you want me to keep quiet about some of the things you’ve done I would quietly suggest you stop picking on my delightful husband or your “hard man” image comes tumbling down.
The kids are looking forward to seeing you both on Sunday, maybe I should video the true you for all to see 🙂

god i fucking love you mary.

oh, and you too andy 🙂

If the alternative was marrying you in your blog persona, then yes I would be Andy.
I’m getting the video camera out to recharge.

Is Mary the new Emah but taller?

Jesus, within a few comments this post – a post that meant alot to me – goes back to ‘type’.

Well at least it stops me becoming all high and mighty, ha!

And to answer your question Billy, yes I did – like an absolute baby – in a cinema, on my own, late one Saturday night.

But I only cried at two bits …

1/ Where he and his Dad finally bonded over his desire to dance

2/ Where his Dad looked at his sons performance with humble pride in his eyes.

In my defence, my Dad had only recently passed away and it just brought back how much I missed him, his support and my love of making him proud.

Feel guilty now? 🙂

Love the post, Rob. Very inspiring words, and equally inspiring story on Andrew.

My grand daughter celebrated her 4th birthday a few days ago. This got me thinking of all the things that are here today that weren’t when I was born some 60 years ago. People Power Granny wonders if these advances have brought humanity together and improved our understanding of one another, or have we become more divided from one another? I think this is an enticing question.

Great point Age, and I have to say I worry how I’d react in a similar situation because while I’d want to hurt anyone who was hurting my child, I know all I’d really be doing is bullying – which would undermine my view that it is so wrong.

An excellent post Robert and you highlight an interesting point about communication lacking any real emotion because I have also have felt this way recently.

If we are right then who to blame for this situation could be debated till the cows come home but I feel there are 3 key elements

One: many organisations don’t understand how their product attributes can be expressed from a customers emotional standpoint so push for a more functional approach wrapped up in “aspirational lifestyle” imagery because they think this gives them the best of both Worlds.

Two: many clients, agencies and planners put too much emphasis on purely functional or usage insights which automatically drives a more functional approach to communication.

Three: too much creative is focused on eye candy rather than heart candy.

I have been charged with falling into some of these traps recently (thank you Robert) and I am sure the clever people on this blog will disagree with me or suggest other elements like lack of training, minimal collaboration, shareholder pressure but regardless of the reason, I feel real emotion in advertising is disappearing which is why your Schweppes ad still makes me feel good even if it just is 30 seconds of balloons bursting.

How easily you are sucked into my evil web Bhakar, ha! How are you? You OK?

Thanks for your comment Lee – very interesting.

I must admit I don’t know if all the issues regarding emotion in advertising fits into those 3 groups – but I certainly do agree with the points you raised.

Of course there is still some great emotionally driven communication [and brands] out there, however I also feel that because business has become so focused on the bottom line, we are expected to create communication that drives immediate response – which is all well and good but quite often leads to the ‘brand’ element being completely ignored which in these days of product parity is foolish as that can help drive longer-term profit through deeper consumer belief.

Of course it doesn’t have to sales or brand, communication can be made that links these two elements seamlessly together – and I think our ‘Beauty Sleep’ commercial did just that – however to get people to fulfill business requirements without resorting to price, I do believe a deeply felt emotional driver [probably linked to the brand in some way] will be the difference between great and good.

I know this is making me look a hypocrite given I dislike the Cadburys’ ads – especially truck – but as I said on my post, my problem with that stuff is the emotions they are conveying are so loosly connected to the brand that it’s commercial value is more to do with Cadbury’s incredible distribution than the ads.

But I know others will disagree. As usual 😉

And more Mary please. Full of sense and able to unbalance the cynic alpha males. That’s impressive.

So CJ isn’t enough of a replacement for Emah eh John? Now you’re going after the wife of my business partner.

Nice – you’re the ‘Shane Warne’ of marketing but without the tan.

With postrationalisation like that, you should be a planner. At McCaan’s.

Amazing. I was equally blown away when I saw Paul Potts’ first appearance.
I think there a few things to it: The audience was hoping for both Paul and Andrew to do well, out of sympathy and, say it, pity. You can tell whether the audience is not relieved but totally surprised (feel the gasp!), because nobody saw THAT coming. And it turns out Paul and Andrew do not need pity but a stage.

A general observation I find the best lesson is that when you do something you love, with passion, you will be comfortable and you will do good. (In the moment the music started I thought Andrew and Paul became different persons)
But everybody wants to BE a superstar rather than DO, MAKE, BUILD something with their heart.
So many brands want to be superstars like Nike and this is why most ad breaks feel like the first audition round of Pop Idol.
I would see that as the lesson for advertising.

But the thing is Jonathan, I don’t think Paul or Andrew want to be a superstar – I just think they want to do what they love and anything else is a bonus.

The problem with too many brands is they seek ‘short-cuts’ to fame … and while you could quite rightly argue that’s what ‘BRITAINS GOT TALENT’ offers people, I think the genuine nature of the two contestants you mention separates them from the hungry, ambitious wankers that generally populate the competition.

Fame used to be a byproduct of doing something great, too many people and brands just seek the glory which is why an APPLE will beat an LG regardless of how much money they pump into ads.

And thank god for that 😉

[PS: I know you have basically said what I’ve just blathered on about Jonathan, forgive me, I’ve had no sleep and don’t even know my name at the moment!]

No wonder you won the last A[P]SOTW thing …

I like the pace in that last comment Andy. Started slowly – then turned into a great big fucking steam train.

You should be in advertising.

[cue shed joke]

Had I not seen it on trailers I think I probably would have cried too.

You don’t get that good without hard work, and I really hope to god that once his voice breaks he can still sing like that, just in a lower register.

Well done Andy, you started my day with a smile – wonders will never cease! 🙂

Hahaha, I like that – good point.

As I said previously, the clip is schmaltzy because ‘ring-it-for-all-its-worth’ television producers have played on Andrew’s situation for their own ratings agenda.

What this has resulted in is people like you now seeing him as some sort of ‘fake’ which is tragic because the kid and his story are genuine and now he’s becomes another victim of circumstance.

I’m cynical about the way the media have latched onto the kid, but I’m heartened by how the kid is triumphing over adversity – with or without mass media attention.

And I haven’t got anything on Michael Grade or those 2 twats, but I have on Sue Lawly if you are interested 😉

Sorry, I didn’t mean “People Like You” to come out like I was calling you scum, I just meant people who feel this situation came across as rather contrived – which is does of course, but through no fault of the little kid.

ha! no i love the little bastards really.

but i just wish this kid was able to demonstrate his talent in an arena untainted by cocks like simon cowell and piers morgan…talent that could be appreciated and enjoyed without a bunch of footnotes

oh fuck i’ve been completely rumbled now!

outed online…shut it or i’ll divert my bullying tendencies to elsewhere.

boom tish indeed…this blog along with my new BDA contract has been a great help in curing my insomnia tonight…til the next time.

thom ‘bully’ thumb

well said Mr Campbell. Well said.